USS John F. Kennedy adds Mk 95 radar illuminators for ESSM guidance

The Ford-class carrier CVN-79 is being fitted with dedicated Mk 95 radar illuminators—hardware common on Nimitz-class ships—to support semi-active guidance for RIM-162 ESSM (especially Block 1) amid changes away from the Dual Band Radar concept. This is a notable configuration shift in the class’ self-defense architecture and affects how many simultaneous missile engagements the ship can support and what ESSM variants it can employ effectively.